Hi! Long time reader, first time poster etc... I'm looking for some advice on some potential board purchases for my girlfriend and I and would really appreciate any help. I suppose we've already made some decisions but really just looking for any flaws in our logic or positive affirmation of our ideas from those that know better than us to be honest.

Neither of us are expert level riders or even close. She has been skiing for as long as I've been boarding but made the switch on our last two trips (so has two weeks of boarding) and is sticking with the board going forward. She's a beginner, 5' 3.5, currently 125lbs (though will hover between 120 and 125lbs - she's very athletic and runs a lot) and wears a size 6.5 womens boot.

I've about 11 weeks of boarding under my belt, spread out over the last 4 years, mostly in France but some in Switzerland and Canada as well. Would probably class myself at the lower end of intermediate. I'm 5' 10.5* and currently 195lbs, though will be lighter come the trip as I'm just back training and playing sports after a long term injury (may hover around the same 180-190 mark as while I'm not fit at the moment I play contact sports so am looking to get back in shape, not just shed the pounds - I've always been a slight lad so previously would have been about 175-180 when fit). I wear size 8.5 shoes.

I've been riding an 2008 Burton Custom 160 for most of my trips. She's ridden a few rentals.

Sorry for all the detail, just trying to be thorough!

So... we've been doing a LOT of reading of late, trying to figure out (a) what we want in a board(s) and (b) what boards suit those needs/wants/wishes. The conclusions I've come to, and which I could really do with hearing your opinions on, are as follows:

For her:
She's still a beginner but given the time we'll have on the slopes (and, from experience, how quickly she takes to these things!) she'll need a board that she won't out-grow too quickly. From numerous threads here I see the Ride Compact recommended over and over again. It looks perfect for her, as while she wouldn't be much for the park she'd like to at least be able to try it out, but more to the point everything I've read on it seems to indicate that it is a great beginner to intermediate board and great as an all-mountain ride at that level. We are leaning toward a 150 rather than a 147, as she'd be in the upper end of the recommended size for the 147 and in the middle of the 150, and given she will be more likely to start exploring the off-piste and a bit of powder than hitting rails the bigger size will suit her needs better.

Thoughts?

For him:

The Clash I've got is from 2008 so has not got a rocker but a more traditional camber. It's done me well over the years but it is limited and I need to move on from it at this stage. I definitely prefer the powder to the park, but I do enjoy messing around on the jumps too. With that in mind I've decided to get a seperate powder board and possibly another board, and settled on the following: a Jones Hovercraft for a powder board, and a reverse camber Blank board for the "other" board. In regard to the Jones, well, I don't need to say much - highly recommended, great powder board by all accounts, and friends with other Jones boards love them. I'm looking at a 160 for that. My only question mark about this is that while the price is fantastic (the end of season sales on this past years stuff is why we are looking now), I could also pick up a Jones Flagship for nearly the same price. Im inclined to stick with the Hovercraft as I really want a powder specific board, but am I being daft in not going for the Flagship?

With regard to the Blank board, my thinking is based on a few things. The price is excellent, and that's a big factor. While the end of season sales are fantastic, I still am pushing the budget looking at two boards. I'm not ashamed to admit that the visual is also a factor and I love the idea of a blank board to throw my own graphics on. I won't be throwing away the Clash, basic though it may be, but would like a smaller board (really could have done with some a little smaller for the Clash and I was a good deal lighter than) as a "fun" board. So I am thinking a reverse camber Blank 157 for just that.

So... Apologies for the essay-like nature of the post! But as I said, thought it best to be thorough. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance!

* We're from Ireland but seeing as most posters here are from America and most board size charts deal in imperical I've listed everything here in lbs, inches and US shoe sizes to make discussion a little easier.

Last edited by RagJuice Crew; 04-15-2012 at 09:01 AM.
Reason: Removing some information for personal reasons

If that's the case, I think getting a specialized powder board for yourself and then skimping on your daily driver is a mistake. During every day riding, you'll be on a board that will limit you, and then on deep pow days you're going to be on a badass powder stick that will handle anything you throw at it, but your wife will be floundering along far behind you on her park-ish board. I guarantee you that will cause some... headaches.

In my opinion, you guys would be better off spending a little more on a slightly higher end ride, especially since you're going to be spending so much time on them. Any sort of mid-flexing hybrid camber boards with center rocker would be my choice. Those will be forgiving, but grow with you and allow you to expand your skills, and you'll both have rides that are very strong in pow. For her... maybe a neversummer lotus or roxy envi? The envi may be a bit on the beefy side, but she certainly wouldn't outgrow it any time soon. For you, a lib TRS or dark series, maybe a GNU rider's choice. I'm sure there are others that fit that profile, but those are the ones I've heard good things about.

That kind of camber-rocker-camber shape does just about everything reasonably well, and will definitely serve you well in pow. Once you have enough days on the snow to figure out what you want to specialize in, you can either just learn it on your hybrid board, or decide then to pick up something more specialized.

Agreed, get a higher end board, a hybrid, c2btx type like a trs, rider's choice and for her a gnu b-pro. It will do most any terrain and conditions fine and the high end will have capacity to progress. Besides you note you are both athletic, fairly aggressive and committed. They might be a bit of a challenge at first but they will be a blast once you get a handle on them.

for her a 148-150 and a narrow board with her 6.5 foot size.
and you a 158-160

And if you hit an insanely deep pow day then rent a big pow gun...but since you are relatively new...riding deep powder 24-36+inches is a whole different world and would be a bit of a challenge that at this point...don't worry about it. A powder specific board is great in deep pow but can be shitty ride in many other terrain and conditions. It will be easier to ride a c2btx in 18" than a pow board on chopped up groomers...imho. I have a big pow board, we get big dumps at Baker, I'll ride it for 1-2 hours in the am before it gets tracked out then switch out to a shorter fr or fs directional twin for the majority of the day.

i agree with the idea of getting one board. since you love pow, i recommend looking at other camber profiles as the ones mentioned. i'm a similar kind of rider you are and i've found that rocker-camber-rocker suits me much better than the other way round. just as stable and much better in pow.

for me personally, YES makes the best boards out there with the above mentioned profile. the Pick Your Line is an amazing pow/freeride stick with some jumping abilities. slightly tapered, directional, softer nose. the big city can do everything as well but is a bit more freestyle-oriented. i own them both and i'll never use anything else again.

That Ride Compact 150 will make her smile all day long, from park to pow. My gf rides a similar Ride board from last year.

For You:

If your riding similar terrain as your gf why not ride a similar board? A hybrid camber mid flex board should take an avid rider anywhere. It sounds like you dont have a ton of experience so I doubt you will be riding past the capabilities of an all around board, regardless the conditions. Theres obviously a million boards out there so personal preference will prevail. Personally I have a Ride Kink 158 and I can rock 25' kickers, rails, charge blues or float in the pow... gone are the days where I have a park board and a pow stick!

I just spent a week demoing the Gnu B Pro, Neversummer Lotus and Roxy Envi. All three were solid boards that rocked all over the mountain. I took all three thru powder, choppy crap, groomers, ice. Here's a brief run down from my experience.

Lotus--handled the deep pow the best. Was fun to ride and insanely damp. I could ride over the most tracked out chopped up crud imaginable and felt like I was still floating. The flip side to that was I found the board a bit dead. It didn't have any pop or snap when hitting jumps and rollers. I probably should have been on a 57 but the shop only had a 53. I wanted it just a notch stiffer. Super stable when hitting groomers at speed.

B Pro-Did not like that it was a true twin, I found it harder to ride in the powder. It did float well but I would have preferred a directional twin. I liked the stiffness but felt the magnetraction was a bit graby. It did everything the Lotus did but not as well. That's how I felt anyway. Again it could be me not liking the tru twin, and I had a hard time getting my stance just right as Ive always been on set back directional boards.

Roxy Envi--Floated well in the pow, but probably a hair less then the Lotus. A hard comparison as I rode the Lotus in waist deep fluff and the Envi in maybe just a foot of fresh. Quite agile in the tight trees as well. The Magne was not too aggressive or grippy, I rode down a sheet of ice the other day and was making turns confidently, something I'd never done before. The board hauls ass on the groomers and feels like it's on rails. I ended up buying the Envi and since have taken it in the park. it's awesome off jumps and I even hit a few boxes (my first time!) so all around a great board. My only gripe about it is that it's kind of boring looking. But I have terrible taste and if I could design my own board I'd have kittens with laser beams--think capita top sheets

I was like your gf too, had a pretty atheltic background and picked up boarding fast. I started on very stiff not beginner at all cambered board. Glad I learned on that but sure glad I moved on. I am sure your girl would grow into any advanced level board quickly if she used to ski and wants to ride fairly seriously.

Thanks all for your responses, and taking the time to read the opening novel! (the formatting, while definitely more than a bit over the top, hopefully helped).

You've given us a lot to think about - to be honest we were originally just looking for confirmation that we'd chosen good boards and the right sizes! But the points made mean there may be some re-thinking required. Maybe. Damn you people and your "logic"! Not sure we agree with all the reasoning but definitely some stuff to chew over.

Thanks again, much appreciated. I'll be back to this thread again this evening when we've mulled things over.

So we've mulled over the feedback from the thread. To be honest though, while the advice about similar boards is well-meant, it doesn't really apply to us. We're very independent and won't be hanging out of each other's coat-tails on the slopes. When riding together we're used to a stop-start nature and waiting/catching up and we've no problem doing our thing at times, or not being at the same level/same advantages in different conditions. Things might be slightly different for us as we're used to limited time on the mountain each year and progressing differently in that time and also spending our on-mountain time apart (with others from the rest of our group usually). And the idea of finding a common middle ground rather than what we individually want frankly horrifies Mrs RJC!

With that in mind I'd still really appreciate any feedback on the boards we've chosen and in particular the sizes (all seem highly recomended anyway). Forget the circumstances and just consider the above as two individual riders' selections. In that context I do take on board what was said about a powder board maybe not being worthwhile for me, though that really is my "big" question at the moment - is an exlusively powder board worthwhile? If I decide not then the Jones Flagship is still an option in that sense I suppose, as I still really want to focus on the powder where possible. But I'd appreciate feedback (sorry to be so fussy, but I really do appreciate it!) on both Jones' selections as boards as well, separate to the point as to whether a powder board is the right decision now.